Saudi Housing Ministry Launches Kingdom’s First Metaverse Platform

The NHC has developed the new service using latest technologies and keeping pace with global trends. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The NHC has developed the new service using latest technologies and keeping pace with global trends. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Housing Ministry Launches Kingdom’s First Metaverse Platform

The NHC has developed the new service using latest technologies and keeping pace with global trends. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The NHC has developed the new service using latest technologies and keeping pace with global trends. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing announced the launching of Sakani Metaverse, the first platform of its kind in the Kingdom, in a step that aims at exploiting the interactive technology to raise the quality of life.

The announcement came during the ministry’s participation in the LEAP 2023 conference, which concluded in Riyadh on Thursday.

Eng. Rayan bin Abdullah Al-Aql, head of Individual Solution Sector at National Housing Company (NHC), said that Sakani Metaverse would expand the services provided to the beneficiaries, and improve their experience.

The platform will allow real estate buyers to view the properties through the Metaverse, without the need to conduct field visits.

The NHC has developed the new service using latest technologies and keeping pace with global trends.

Al-Aql noted that Sakani Metaverse is an interactive technology that would help in raising the level of quality of life, by showing the beneficiaries the various housing options, and providing new horizons for cooperation and investment with partners from real estate developers and brokers.

The second edition of LEAP - the largest technological conference of its kind in the world - was held this year in Riyadh under the slogan, “Towards New Horizons”.

More than 700 experts, scientists and specialized companies from around the world discussed the latest developments in virtual reality, creative economy, edutech, retail, Fourth Industrial Revolution, future energy, smart cities, fintech, and healthtech.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing signed agreements to improve urban planning services and develop infrastructure in cities, during its participation in an exhibition held on the sidelines of LEAP 2023.

The agreements aim to strengthen governance and exchange experiences between the government and private sectors, which will reflect positively on the urban landscape and raise the quality of life of residents.



Turkish Annual Inflation Falls More Than Expected to 44.38%

A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
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Turkish Annual Inflation Falls More Than Expected to 44.38%

A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo
A shopkeeper uses his mobile phone as he waits for customers at a popular middle-class shopping district in Istanbul, Türkiye March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File photo

Turkish annual consumer price inflation fell more than expected to 44.38% in December, official data showed on Friday, with education, housing and restaurant prices leading the rise.

Month on month, inflation was 1.03%, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, compared with 2.24% in November. Annual consumer price inflation (CPI) was 47.09% in November.

Furniture prices rose 2.78% from the previous month, data showed, while telecoms-related prices gained by 1.82%.

In a Reuters poll, the annual inflation rate was expected to fall to 45.2%, with the monthly figure seen at 1.61%, owing to easing food price inflation and a limited rise in energy prices.

The latest inflation print was close to the central bank's midpoint prediction of 44% for the end of 2024.

The bank, having kept its main interest rate steady at 50% since March, launched an easing cycle last week, cutting the policy rate by 250 basis points to 47.5%.

The bank said it will set policy "prudently" meeting by meeting with a focus on the inflation outlook while responding to any expected "significant and persistent deterioration".

The Turkish lira was little changed after the data at 35.3850 to the dollar, hovering around the record lows.

The domestic producer price index was up 0.4% month on month in December for an annual rise of 28.52%, the data showed.